Andre Drummond isn't even close to the player Valancuinas is at moment, and Val will be the better player than Biedrins and Darko, its not even a crapshoot. Why?

1) Val can shoot a free throw and Drummond, Biedrins, and Darko still can't shoot a free throw.
2) Val has already established himself as a productive pro player. Playing at a professional level with professional men. Drummond could barely play against guys his own age.
3) Val from his age up has been the best player at his age. As for Drummond, I'm not sure you can say the same thing.

Drummond is still raw and everyone is freaking out that hes getting 19 and 10 but first off you can play hack a Drummond which will easily keep him off the court and secondly he's got no post game, hes mainly putbacks and dunks. Yeah he has potential and Colangelo may have f*cked up, but whose to say Drummond isn't the next Kwame Brown?

Drummond could be a Kwame.. I admit that freely. As i said I simply dont know right now...

On your other points I am mixed.

1)Yes Val can shoot the FT. Lets see if his physical style from international ball and euro league transfers well. Lets hope he "gets to the line" instead of being called for the foul - o or d... I am not the only one that has noted this as a concern.

2) Purely subjective.
Look Val has a very good track record in international ball... but in our most recent sample called the Olympics - got very few minutes relative to other NBA players on the court.

3) Drummond was once projected as number 1 overall and the McDonalds highschool number 1 in the nation or some damn thing like that. Again subjective...based on other opinions.

I think Val will be a good player - do not over emphaisize my negative comments.

I am saying picking Drummond was the right pick for a variety of reasons - and putting all our eggs in the Jonas V basket does not mitigate the wrong pick.

Sorry to open an old thread but this article really tells us a lot about what could have been. I cant even imagine what a forecourt of Drummond and Val would have done to other teams.

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Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons

The key for players considered to be long-term projects is to find simple ways to stay on the floor. It doesn’t take much; when a team and coach have a vested interest in a player’s development, a few basic skills can go a long way toward validating potential playing time. For some, it may be converting open jumpers. For others, displays of pure effort. For Drummond, his instant validation comes through his rebounding — an area of the game in which the 6-foot-10 center is performing at an elite rate, as only two NBA players have posted higher overall rebounding percentages. He’s earned his ticket to more playing time through that kind of display alone, and now it’s on Pistons coach Lawrence Frank to afford Drummond with even more opportunities to play, produce and grow.

And boy, is there a lot of room for growth. Drummond’s about as raw as a reasonably productive player can be, and the few post moves he’s attempted have resulted in wild flings in the general direction of the hoop. About a third of Drummond’s field goals have been dunks, and he’s converted only 48 percent of his attempts otherwise — a cut that may seem decent until you consider that 96 percent of Drummond’s shot attempts have come in the deep paint or the low block.He simply struggles in any situation that requires finesse and lacks the kind of touch on his interior attempts that would allow him to score over or around defenders.His rebounding and shot-blocking should buy him plenty of time to settle into his offensive and defensive game (don’t mistake Drummond’s monster block numbers for defensive nuance), but there’s a long road ahead.